Kerosene heaters are conventionally fueled by portable electric pumps, funnels or hand-held siphon devices. Typically, the pumps and siphons contain downwardly depending tubes which can be extended into a kerosene storage vessel to withdraw a desired amount of kerosene. The kerosene can be passed directly into the kerosene heater, or it can be held in an intermediate storage vessel for transporting from an outside storage drum to a kerosene heater within a building. Regardless of the precise kerosene supply means employed, I am aware of no apparatus which is available for protecting against the presence of highly-combustible fuels such as gasoline. The prior art has suggested a wide variety of means for discriminating between various types of fluids in general; however, I am aware of no prior art teaching which effectively employs any type of fluid discriminator with a keosene heater to solve the problems addressed by me.
In addition to the need for a device for discriminating between fluids such as kerosene suitable for heater use, contaminants, such as more flammable materials, there is a further need for a fail-safe fueling device which would prevent the intentional as well as unintentional addition of a fluid other than desired into a device, e.g. other than kerosene into a kerosene heater. Again, according to my knowledge, the prior art has not offered any solution to this significant problem. It remains that people failing to heed the warnings provided with kerosene heaters, or believing that they are still capable of using fuels such as gasoline safely, will periodically cause accidents, the results of which will unduly frighten many and deter them from the use of an economical and otherwise safe means of heating.